A Step Away From Falling
by Tammsiee
Summary: Robin is a small town girl from Oakland, OK. Engrossed in her life consisting of dealing with her dad's girlfriend and complications with her friend Kale, who is soon to be something else, can you guess?


A Step Away From Falling

By Tammy Collins

Chapter 1:

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only sane person in this world. Like everyone else is completely unhinged, disconnected from reality. It makes life a little more complicated trying to live it feeling like you're Alice in Wonderland, stuck in a make-believe world. Here I was, sitting at a table with the Mad-hatter and the March hare. That would be my 'parents', Richard and Sylvia Ross. They've been sitting here with me for almost an hour telling me that I'm a stupid teenager, and everything I do soils their perfect macrocosm. Dad and Sylvia have been together for almost two years, and they've driven me crazy since the day she moved in. Dad wasn't like that before he met Sylvia. He and I were practically best friends, that is, before the Queen of Hearts stepped into the picture. So here he was taking her side again, actually believing that it's _my_ fault that Sylvia's puke green Lacoste sweater went missing, along with her tennis racquet. That woman will do whatever it takes to get me in trouble.

"Dad, what on earth are you wearing?" I decided to ignore his angry ranting, like I always do, and change the subject. He was wearing the ugliest pink sweater-vest. It was easy for me to be brave and slip a joke into the conversation because you just can't take a man seriously when he's wearing pink.

"Robin, you know I cannot stand when you change the subject like that. We are not discussing my apparel," he said, his dilated pupils acting as a vacuum, two black holes sucking in my last bit of dignity. Sylvia managed to turn one corner of her mouth up into a dry smirk, enchanted by my father's enunciation. She couldn't have said it better herself.

"Dad, your vest is _pink, _and you watch football on Monday nights. Is there some metro-sexual alter-ego I'm discovering about you?" I mimicked Sylvia's smirk.

"Young lady, I've had it with you. Go to your room!" He stood up from the table, pointing to the stairs. I got up from my seat to finally exit the living room and this silly lecture. I decided as a last resort to politely exert my rage against the only thing keeping Dad and me apart.

"You weren't like this before Sylvia," I said, looking deep into my Father's eyes, trying to find even a nostalgic piece of what Richard Ross used to be, "before mom left." I stood for one last moment, still searching for a long lost memory in his eyes. It was there, but it was covered up in pink sweater-vests and fancy country clubs. Oh, and Sylvia.

The walk to my room was silent, as usual, and I could imagine that by the amount of times I'd walked down this hall the carpet must have been worn by now. I reached my room, and before I closed the door I heard my dad yell a final sentence.

"AND STAY IN YOUR ROOM UNTIL YOU'RE READY TO COME OUT AND APOLOGIZE!"

I couldn't believe it. There wasn't the smallest piece of the Dad I used to know left. And I knew it because I felt my arm on the doorknob slam my door shut, and tears filled my eyes. If an apology was my 'Get out of jail free card' then there was no way I was ever getting out of my room. I didn't even have anything to apologize about. He wanted me to apologize for things that I would consider lies if I summed up the right apology for him. He wanted me to conform and join Sylvia's _perfect_ world. It was all so stupid. I looked in the mirror hanging against my door. I saw my hazel eyes, sending messages of disappointment and aching with anguish. I was never going to win this war. This is the problem with being sixteen, you have absolutely no power. You can fight it all you want, but the bottom line is that your parents can do whatever they want with you because they put the roof over your head and the food on your plate.

Since I figured it was doubtless that I'd be stuck in my room for the rest of my life, I thought I might as well try and get my mind around what was bothering me and enjoy some nice, brain- frying television. The only problem was that nothing was on except Seinfeld Re-runs. I looked through my stack of DVDs and decided it was about time I blew the dust off of Snakes on a Plane. I jumped onto my queen-sized bed and pushed play. WhenI got to the part where Samuel L. yells his famous line, "I'VE HAD IT…WITH THESE MOTHEREFFIN SNAKES ON THIS MOTHEREFFIN PLANE!" I pressed pause. I enjoy pausing a movie and looking at the people's faces. I wonder if he realized how funny he looked when he yelled. About a minute after I was finished laughing at Samuel's face, Sylvia walked in.

"You really upset your Father and me today," she said, crossing her perfect little arms across her chest, "and you won't even consider maturely taking the time to do the right thing and think about what you've done."

"What exactly _is it_ that I've done?" I said, raising both eyebrows to emphasize the fact that I was innocent, "because as far as I'm concerned, the only thing I'm doing wrong here is wasting my time talking to the person responsible for uprooting this family." I know it was a cold, cruel thing to say, but it was the truth.

"Robin Ross," she said sternly, like she had any sort of authority over me, but I interrupted,

"So if you don't mind, I've got a date with Samuel L. Jackson and some snakes, and you've got a date with the opposite side of that door." The only way to get Sylvia to listen to you is if you state your order in a rude, metaphorical way. So I did, and she left.

I finished _Snakes on a Plane _at five twenty, which was great, because that left me time to get ready for band practice. Practice was at six. Sylvia hated my band, not just because we were called Stifled Laundry, but because we weren't an all girls band. I was in a band with my best friends, Autumn, Faegan, and Kale. I've been friends with Autumn since we were in the third grade, and I've known Faegan since last year because he was in my Biology class. Kale, however, has been around for as long as I can remember, and he's my best friend. Our dads had been football buddies for years before Kale and I came along. His dad left his mom about four years ago though, and for all I know, my dad hasn't tried to contact him since the day he left. Kale and I shared everything until Sylvia was thrown in my life, and I hardly ever get to hang out with him anymore because Sylvia thinks it's inappropriate for boys and girls to be so close at our age, which is total BS if you ask me.

Our band never had practice at my place because if we did, Sylvia would cut the power and brutally murder me in my sleep for wrecking her immaculate atmosphere for two hours. I decided not to tell Dad and Sylvia I was leaving and I exited my house the back way, where they wouldn't see me. They always read the newspaper at five thirty in the living room, (which I find a little weird) so they'd be nowhere near the back door. My poor old van was in the shop, so I took Dad's Audi. I tried my best to put my guitar in the trunk without making a lot of noise. I increased my speed when I turned the key in the ignition, so if Dad or Sylvia heard me they wouldn't catch me. Kale lived about a block away from me, and if we had practice anywhere besides his house, I always picked him up at five forty five. As I reached the turn into Fifteenth Street, I saw Kale leaning against his mailbox. He smiled when he saw me coming. As he picked up his guitar, I examined his apparel. Today Kale was wearing his Black Sabbath shirt, which is my favorite of his shirts, his beat up four-year-old converse, of course, and his girl jeans. Kale looks really good in girl's jeans. He got in the car, and stuck his guitar in the back seat.

"Hey," he smiled and stuck his Ipod in the docking station. He quickly scrolled through his playlists to get to his 'Rob' Playlist, which was the list of songs we always listened to in the car.

"Hey," I parroted. As he clicked the center button on his Ipod, I felt a smile sweep across my face. He must have been in a really good mood, because he chose "Friday I'm in Love" by the Cure, which we agreed is our all time favorite. I revved the engine and drove up and turned right, back onto Mockingbird Lane, heading towards Autumn's house.

Time passed, and we were almost to Highway 99. Kale and I jammed out to our playlist. He told me about all the things his mom does to bother him, and I said almost the exact same things, but in Sylvia/Dad form. If an adult was sitting in the backseat, they would have thought we were just two stupid teenagers. We were just two kids, driving too fast, not really giving a crap about what's gonna happen tomorrow, or if we've done all our homework or not.

"Well, I look at it this way," Kale said as he ate a pretzel, "we're all like a song our parents never really liked the lyrics for. As a matter of fact, we're a copy of the crappy lyrics they used to be but with minor revisions. We consider ourselves finished, ready to put to music, but they can't let us just be another crappy song in a world overflowing with other bad songs. In order to be good enough for them, we have to meet them halfway and show them the music we have in mind for our song disguises those crappy lyrics." He gave me a pretzel. I took a moment to make sense of what he was trying to get across.

"So I get what you're saying, but what do we do when our parents don't even like the music we've written for ourselves? What if they can't get past our lyrics and don't even let us show them our music?" I realized I was taking Kale's metaphor a little too seriously.

"Then we wait until we turn eighteen, and we move out. I know you don't have much of a chance trying to show them your real side since they're stuck on the fact that you're not like them. They're gonna try and change you, and you have to ignore them if this is the kind of person you want to be," he said, putting an end to his awesome image.

"But _I_ don't even know if this is the kind of person I want to be!"

"I wouldn't worry about it too much; you're not the only person in this car that hasn't figured out what to do with themselves." He smiled at me, handing me another pretzel. I didn't think much more about it once Kale ended the conversation. I just knew my parents were nuts, and that was all there was to it.

We were almost to the Highway, but there was a Detour sign pointing towards East 2020 Road.

"Damn, if we take this detour, we won't get to Autumn's for another hour," I said, and I stopped the car.

"It's almost six," Kale said, "I think we should call Faegan and Autumn and tell 'em to order pizza or something," he said, reaching into his pocket for his phone.

"Good idea," I said, and I stretched over to the Ipod dock to change the song. For some reason Kale thought The Rolling Stones were a good band. They aren't. I don't know why he'd put a Stones song on our playlist. He probably did it just to bug me. As I clicked the 'next' button on his Ipod, I took a quick look at Kale, and he was giving me his signature smirk. I knew he did it just to bother me. Kale has always been that way; he does little things like that to get me going. I sat and looked out across South 12th Avenue. Not many cars passed by, so I could hear all the crickets in the park across the street. It was a peaceful moment, and it felt good after all the stress with Dad and Sylvia.

"Looks like we're in for an extra hour of driving," Kale sighed, cramming his phone back into his pocket. I pressed the gas pedal and turned left, wishing I could hold onto those two seconds of serenity a little longer.

Chapter 2:

About five minutes later I got a call from my dad. He said he was very upset that I assumed that it would be okay for me to take his car.

"YOU TURN THAT CAR AROUND RIGHT NOW ROBIN MARIE ROSS," he screeched into the phone. I didn't catch the next thing he said because I was holding the phone three inches away from my ear, so I would keep the gift of audibility when I'm eighty years old.

"Dad, you have to calm down. I'm almost to Autumn's house, Kale and I had to take a detour about eight miles back. I should be home at ten." I said in a relaxed tone. My main goal was to get my dad to stop fuming.

"WHAT? YOU'RE WITH _KALE?_ I FORBID YOU TO DRIVE MY CAR EVER! LET ALONE WITH ANOTHER TEENAGER IN THE PASSENGER SEAT!" Well, that didn't go like I thought it would. He was definitely still pissed.

"Dad, I have to go now, it's irresponsible for me to be driving while talking on the phone. I could crash or something," I responded, ignoring him. I closed my phone shut right when my dad was in the middle of saying something. I didn't care. I considered that payback for the lecture he gave me, which was equally as insulting as me cutting him off. It was gonna be okay, he couldn't come find me anyway, because he didn't have a car to come find me in. I was tired of Dad and Sylvia always holding me back. It was about time I did something _I _wanted to do for a change. I didn't notice it for a while, but Kale was looking at me with wide eyes, the whites visible even in the dark.

"What?" I asked him.

"Dude, your dad just got TOLD. You've _never_ done that before. RE- BEL!" He clapped for me, which I found a little strange.

"Well, it's about time he started to trust me a little. He treats me like I'm ten years old."

"Boy does he," He said as he took out his sheet music he'd been writing for our band's new song, "and you hardly get away with anything, let's hope you don't get seriously rolled for this when you get home." He put his music away. I think Kale's a little bored with what Autumn wants us to try out. She's really into The Police, and wants a song similar to 'Message in a Bottle', but with an edge like 'Iron Man.' (Which doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to Kale and I, The Police and Black Sabbath are two totally different bands, different genres.)

"I'm not gonna get _rolled_, because I'm not going home tonight. I'm gonna stay with Autumn, until they cool down and realize I can be trusted." I said, taking a sip of my coke.

"That doesn't mean he's gonna be over this in a day or two. You staying away from home is probably the worst thing you could do right now. Especially since you told him you'd be home at ten. He'll be expecting you to be home tonight."

"Well, I was hoping he'd fall asleep watching golf before he realized I was still out…or forget about me, he's getting old you know." We laughed for a second. He turned the music up louder, because Kale knows loud music helps me stay cool. We sang along to 'Blowin' in the Wind' and 'Cecilia.' It was eight O'clock.

"Man, this sure is a long detour; we've been on this same road for almost an hour and a half!" Kale said, looking at the time on his phone.

"Hmm," I said, trying to see if there were any signs along the side of the road, "I was sure this detour would get us to Autumn's in an hour."

"Well, it's alright, this is fun too." He said. Of course Kale thought this was fun. He's like a dog, he likes joy rides, no matter where we're headed.

Chapter 3:

Another hour passed by in the car. This was getting to be even weirder, because I was sure the turnoff for Autumn's street was somewhere around twenty miles back. Kale had to go pee, so I stopped off on the side of the road so he could take a leak. He got out of the car, and I noticed that once he stopped peeing he didn't come back. He started walking off into the bushes. I waited for Kale for quite a while before I decided I should probably go see what he was up to.

I walked through the bushes and called for Kale. He didn't answer. I kept walking, my tennis shoes trudging through the brush and dirt. As I walked, I heard a slight trickling noise, and I followed it. It was really dark, and I could barely see. I drew myself closer to where the trickling noise was coming from. I finally reached a point where it sounded like it was super close. I pushed back the reeds that seemed to be disguising the sound, and I saw Kale in the middle of this stream. The moonlight was beautiful reflecting off the water.

"Kale! What the hell are you doing?" I yelled at him, putting my hands on my hips, for some reason.

"Jump in!" He yelled back, I figured that's what he was gonna say.

"Kale, we have to get to Autumn's house! We don't have time to" –

"Come on, Robin! Am I gonna have to pull you in here?" He said, cutting me off, shaking the wet, shaggy hair off his face.

"Kale, you better not, I don't wanna get all wet then have to" – He pulled me in mid-sentence, and the water was freezing cold. I bobbed myself up to the surface, my wet clothes acting as an anchor against me.

"What the hell! I'm gonna _kill_ you!" I swam after him. He swam downstream, the light current supporting him.

"You'll never win Robin! You know that," he laughed as he swam up to a giant boulder in the middle of the stream. He climbed on top of it, and I swam closer to him. I knew what would happen next, so I tried to swim away as fast as I could. He jumped off the huge rock and cannon-balled right on top of me, and I went under…I'm not the fastest of swimmers. We both came back up to the surface, and I tried to push him under the water. It didn't work out too well, and Kale broke free from my attempt at almost drowning him. He swam away to the boulder and climbed on it again. He reached the top and sat down, panting. He patted the spot next to him, and I decided I'd join him, I needed a rest. I reached the top, and we both sat there, catching our breath.

We looked up at the stars for what felt like an hour but was really about thirty minutes, and we talked about all the fun times we've had together. I looked over at Kale, and noticed he had been looking at me. I looked back at him, seeing the spark in his eyes that forced me to remember our childhood. My eyes were somehow glued to his, and I couldn't turn away from him. The childhood memories started to fade to black, and I suddenly saw Kale a different way. I looked at the dripping wet hair on his face, and followed a drop of water that was running down his cheek. I stopped at his lips, thinking it was sort of a strange thing for me to be staring at him like that, but I still couldn't turn myself away from him. Kale didn't turn away from me either, and kept looking at my lips. I didn't want to keep looking at Kale this way. I sat up and wrapped my arms around my knees. Kale got up too, and reached towards my face. He softly turned my head towards him, looking at me. This was killing me; I couldn't believe I was falling for my best friend, Kale Matthews. He looked down at my lips and drew his face close to mine. We kept our faces only an inch apart, and I almost felt his lips on mine. I felt him pause, and then he looked up at my eyes. He put his hand down. The way he looked at me made me freeze up, his eyes expressing a sort of misery that made my heart wrench. I didn't understand why he pulled away, it made no sense. He got up from his spot next to me, and I felt a forlorn gust of wind blow behind him as he jumped back into the stream.

Chapter 4:

We both walked back to the car, which I realized I had stupidly left running, and by the amount of gas we had left in the tank I knew we wouldn't make it to Autumn's if it was more than four miles away. I figured we were pretty much stranded, so I turned it off. I started to call for help.

"You know, even if someone was up for driving out at ten o'clock at night to bring us some gas, they wouldn't be able to find us in the middle of fucking nowhere," Kale said in an irritated tone. I snapped my phone shut, almost in tears. I didn't get why he was suddenly so pissed at me. What did _I _do?

"I'm going to bed," Kale said as he got in the car. I watched him slam the passenger door and my heart sank.

I didn't want to sleep in the car next to him, so I looked in the trunk for something to cover up in. There wasn't anything. I couldn't believe I was so scared of Kale that I was willing to curl up in the dirt to avoid being in the same ambiance as him. I suddenly felt my phone vibrate in my tiny pocket. It was Faegan. I flipped it open.

"Hey," I said, trying to sound as if nothing was wrong.

"Where the hell are you two? Its ten thirty and you were supposed to be here like four hours ago! Autumn and I have already played all the songs on guitar hero, watched _Men in Black_ and ordered pizza. THERE'S NOTHING ELSE LEFT TO DO. How much longer are you expecting to leave me here with her?"

"Faegan, Kale and I got in a fight." I said directly.

"How is that… even possible? You guys never fight over anything," He said, sounding concerned.

"Well, Kale got out to pee about an hour ago, then started trailing off into the bushes. I went to go look for him, and when I finally found him, we walked back and the car was out of gas because I was an idiot and didn't turn it off." I decided to leave out exactly what Kale and I were stuck in the middle of, everything between finding him and walking back. He didn't need to know details just yet.

"Shit," Faegan said, "so does this mean I'm stuck with Autumn until you guys find a way to get gas?" He joked. "I can bring you two some gas in the morning if you want, but my parents want me home in half an hour."

"Yeah, that sounds great," I said, my voice cracked… I was still pretty worked up about the situation with Kale.

"What's wrong?" Faegan could always tell when something was wrong.

"I'll tell you in the morning. Call me when you head out, I should be up." I finished my sentence then gave him the dial tone before he could make me tell him what was wrong. I didn't want Kale to overhear.

I managed to comfortably curl up in the sand next to the car. It was nice and warm from a day's worth of sun. As comfortable as this was, I still found it kind of sad that I was doing this rather than standing up for myself. I guess that's the way it goes for me;

I can stand up to my crazy parents in almost any situation, but when I'm faced with standing up to someone I consider sane and real, I freeze up. I don't get it. As warm and comfortable as the sand was, I was scared to death of the quiet. It was hard to believe that Kale and I were the only ones out here. At the same time, it was nice being stranded out here, knowing that no matter what, my parents were never gonna find me. I heard the passenger door open and immediately stopped my thoughts. I listened as two feet walked to the back of the car, and the person using those feet sat down. For a moment all was quiet, and I wasn't really sure what was going on. Then I heard Kale's guitar strum. About half a minute went by, and then I heard lyrics.

"Sittin' on the porch of the girl next door,

singin' her a song she's never heard before

I can see her smile with every word I say

And the look in her eyes with every note I play

She may not know it

But she's the reason why I stick around

She may not realize

But I'm different from other guys

Why can't she see?

Oh, why can't she see?

She's the girl for me."

At this point in the song obviously written for me, my heart was racing, and I was wearing a smile as big as the state of Oklahoma. I was almost to tears, but I stopped on the verge of hyperventilating to pay attention to the next verse.

"This girl next door has no clue

I sit and I wait wonderin' what I'll do

She doesn't know how much I care

But that's my fault, because I've been scared

I'm a dork, she knows it's true

Robin, this is why I've never told you

I'm in love with you…I'm in love with you."

The verse was over, and I couldn't stand it anymore. I jumped up from where I was sitting and practically flew to the back of the car. As soon as I saw Kale's face in the moonlight, I stopped. He stopped playing as soon as he saw me. I stared at him for a moment, almost to tears again, and my heart was still racing. I slowly took a couple steps towards him and sat cross-legged in the dirt. I wasn't sure what to do next. I was still in the mindset that Kale was only my friend, only my friend, but at the same time, I was at a place where I really just didn't give a shit about our past. I didn't care if being with Kale this way was going to change everything. I stopped my train of thought and looked right into his eyes. Everything just sort of fell into place from there. Kale and I finally shared our first kiss, and I realized it was everything I've really ever wanted.

Chapter 5:

Eight A.M. Sunday. I awoke and checked my phone. I had a missed call from Faegan. I called him back, realizing I was subject to phone tag. He didn't answer. _You're it, Faegan._ Kale was still asleep. I looked at him, this boy with his beanie pulled over his eyes, his arms crossed and his head resting heavily on the armrest between us. He looked cozy despite his facial expressions. I never knew Kale made faces in his sleep. Or that he snored. I was wondering if I could call him my boyfriend, and I his girlfriend. But I didn't want to ask him. I was still getting used to Kale being more than my friend. Lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice Kale arouse.

"Goooood mornin' sunshine," He smiled, stretching his arms outward.

"Good morning," I said.

"Hey, what time is it?" He asked, rubbing the 'sleeps' out of his eyes.

"Eight," I replied, "Faegan called this morning, but I missed it."

"Eh," he shrugged, "I like being stranded," he kissed my cheek. He grabbed his backpack and opened the passenger door. Stepping out, he placed his backpack on the hood of the car and took his shirt off. He unzipped his backpack revealing a brown Led Zeppelin T-shirt.

"How is it that you're always so prepared?" I asked. Kale had everything under the sun in that backpack. "You wouldn't happen to have a change of clothes for me would you?"

"Nah, but I have another T-shirt if you want it," He smiled, tossing me his Rolling Stones T-shirt.

"This is a joke, right?" I asked, throwing the shirt back at him. "If I'm wearing one of your shirts, it's gonna have to be that Led Zeppelin one. Hand it over, chum." I said, calling him 'chum' for some reason. Kale rolled his eyes and took the shirt off, and I noticed for the first time that he was seriously ripped.

"Alright, stop staring at my abdomen like it's a Saturday morning cartoon." He said throwing his shirt at my face, Kale's scent violating my senses. He obviously said that because my mouth was agape for the moment he wasn't wearing a shirt. I was embarrassed. I got out of the car to change my shirt. I took off my sweater, revealing my bare skin and bra in the sunlight. Kale looked about as excited as I had been when he took off his jacket. It was kind of cute.

"_Stop staring at my abdomen like it's a Saturday morning cartoon,_" I mocked, although I knew he wasn't really taking inventory of my abs.

"Hey, wanna go for a walk? We really don't have anything else to do," He said, changing the subject.

We walked some two miles from the Audi, and it was around ten o'clock. It was super hot, and it wasn't even midday.

"We're never getting out of here if Faegan doesn't call us back," I said.

"Well, I could always call my mom, but she doesn't have a car right now…and she's out of town," He said, realizing it wasn't really a solution to our problems.

"Why's she out of town?" I asked.

"Business trip," He replied, short and sweet. I heard Kale's phone vibrate in his pocket, and he reached in to get it. "Speak of the devil," He said. "Hey mom, what's up?"… "You're home…So soon?"… "Uh, well, Robin and I never really got to Autumn's house…We're sort of stranded in the middle of nowhere,"… "What?! No! You can't do that mom…that would be a VERY bad idea. Mom, **we** don't even know where we are. How are **they** supposed to find us?"… "Aw, come on mom, it's not like I WANTED this to happen!" He gave me a quick smirk. "Alright, fine. But whatever you do, DON'T call Mr. Ross, he would never let me near Robin again. Alright…Love you too." He hung up.

"She's calling for help. She said to stay in the car and to keep an eye out for a very big truck with strong men inside to take us both home." He laughed.

"She wanted to call my parents?" I asked, turning back towards the direction of the Audi.

"Yeah, she's all concerned and stuff."

We walked back to the car and saw what Kale's mom had described as a very large truck with big strong men inside. We grabbed all our stuff out of the car and climbed the ladder to get into the giant means of transportation. It's amazing how just by GPS someone can find you. Actually, it's a little weird. They hooked my dad's little Audi to the back and away we went. About thirty minutes into our ride home, Faegan called, and I told him we were on our way home, which reminded me that I probably should go to Kale's house and not mine. We finally reached the turn into Kale's street at one in the afternoon, and we both got out. They left the car on the street next to his house. We thanked them for all their trouble, and went inside. Kale's house looked different for the first time in thirteen years. There were boxes piled high to the ceiling and the only thing that was not boxed up in their living room was the couch.

"Gonna have a garage sale?" I asked, stupidly. I knew something was wrong. Kale didn't answer; instead he made his way to his mom's office to announce our arrival. When he reached the office, I heard his mom say 'Close the door, Kale.' I sat on the couch for what felt like an eternity but in reality was only about ten or fifteen minutes. At that time, Kale emerged from the office and gestured for me to come to his room.

"Kale, what's going on? What did you and your mom talk about?" I asked as I closed his door, which was covered with autographed posters.

"Nothing, my mom just wanted to tell me something. She also said you could stay here as long as you like, but she'd rather you went home to face your parents."

"You told her about that? Why?"

"I never keep anything from my mom."

"But you'd obviously keep something from me," I said as I sat on his bed.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, lying down on his bed.

"Kale, don't play dumb, I know something's going on around here. Explain all the boxes in your living room."

"Oh…that," He said, sitting up, "There actually _has_ been something I've been meaning to talk to you about." He paused, looking into my eyes, "Robin, we're moving to California before summer ends." I was silent. I didn't know how to react to this. "But it's okay, I'll call you every day, and we can see each other when we get breaks from school," He said, seeing that I was in a state of perplexity. And now my heart was wrenching. I came to tears, finally. "Oh, god, don't cry," He said, covering his face with his hands, "Please don't cry."

"It's more than halfway through the summer and _now _you tell me you're leaving? Kale, we only have like six days left! When were you planning on telling me? How am I supposed to go on without you just two blocks away? You've been so close to me my entire life!" I could feel my face get red hot, and my nose was stuffed. Kale didn't dare look at me, "…and especially after everything last night! How could you do this to me Kale?" I turned myself away from him and cried my heart out. About five minutes passed before Kale spoke.

"Robin, I didn't wanna tell you because I didn't want you to be depressed the whole summer," He said, still avoiding eye contact.

"I would have at least wanted to make every moment count with you, I mean sure I would have been depressed, but at least I could have said at the end that we had had the best last summer ever!"

"But that's the thing Robin, I feel like I _have_ made every moment count with you this summer. I didn't want to remember my last summer living here as one where you had to cry over this all the time because I was leaving," He scooped me up into a big bear hug, "I wanted to remember it as one where I got to spend my last twelve weeks just hanging out with my best friend, who would maybe, if I was lucky enough, become my girlfriend." He made eye contact at last.

"Well, you were definitely lucky enough." I said with a chuckle, but then I went back into hyperventilation.

"Yeah," He said. I lied down on his bed and sobbed, and Kale held me close. What was going to happen to us if he left?

Chapter 6:

I finally decided to go home at around six in the evening. My parents were going to kill me, and it was now or never. I walked in the front, accepting that they were going to get me whether I went in through the back door or not. I shut the door, the air whooshing behind me. I waited for a minute to study the scene. Nothing. I went upstairs to my room and put my guitar back on its stand. I felt a wave of sad little vibes come to me after that, my guitar hadn't been used in two days. I jumped up on my bed and noticed my TV screen had a little yellow sticky note stuck to it. It was from my Dad.

"Robin," it read, "If you're home and you're reading this, I've left with Sylvia to go looking for you, please call me, we're both worried sick." I felt terrible. They were _worried sick_ about me, an expression my father hardly used, and when he used it, he meant it. I couldn't just call him though. What was I supposed to say? I checked my phone, realizing I had put it on silent the night before and practically forgot it existed all day. I had five missed calls, all from my Dad. I felt even more terrible. I couldn't wait any more, I had to call him. I went to my contacts and punched in 'd' to get my Dad's number. I hit 'send' and took a deep breath. After only two rings, he picked up.

"Robin, honey, where are you?" he said in a calm but seemingly on the verge of freaking out tone.

"I'm at home, obviously, I read your note." I said.

"Alright, we're on our way there." He said, then hung up on me…and now I was afraid. From the feel of him hanging up, I got the notion that he was still pissed off. But I couldn't exactly blame him. I spent the next two hours hyperventilating. Unlike earlier that day, I wasn't crying, and it wasn't because of Kale. My dad was scaring me shitless. What was he gonna do to me once he got home? And worse, what was Sylvia gonna take away from me? As if she could take anything more away from me. I tried to calm down by watching Flight of the Conchords, which usually works, but for some reason Bret and Jemaine just weren't gonna cut it tonight.

My Dad and Sylvia pulled up in the driveway in what seemed to be a rented car about twenty minutes later. I tried to calm myself down the best I could, but I knew it wasn't any good. I heard the front door open, and the sound of high heels clicking on the hard wood floor indicated that it was Sylvia. I listened as she hung up her coat in the closet, even though it was summer and I didn't see a point in her wearing a coat or jacket in August. I heard her bare feet start pounding up the stairs, like my heart, and I closed my door almost all the way. I was afraid, but didn't want to look afraid, so I turned up Flight of the Conchords. She walked past my room to the master bedroom and closed the door. She wasn't coming in to yell at me? The fact that I wasn't going to have to deal with the devil tonight really calmed me down. I was able to watch the next five minutes of my show without physically freaking out. I heard a second pair of feet tiredly trudging up the stairs quite a while after that. My dad reached the top step and his footsteps neared my door. He opened the door and looked in at me with tired eyes.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said. Why wasn't he yelling at me?

"Alright, that's all that matters to me," He said, almost closing my door, but then remembered, "Oh, where's my car?" He lifted his tired eyelids up and looked at me, his greenish hazel eyes showing no sign of anger whatsoever. At least he hadn't completely lost his mind.

"Oh, it ran out of gas, it's over at Kale's house," I said easily.

"Alright, I'll head over to get it in the morning." He yawned, "Goodnight Rob."

"G'night Dad," I quietly called to him. It was weird that I wasn't being punished for anything. I turned off my TV and went downstairs for some chocolate milk. I was in the mood. I opened the fridge and looked for the milk; all we had was skim, which isn't exactly my favorite, but I didn't really care. I pulled it out and sat it on the counter. I got out the chocolate syrup, and a glass. I poured in the milk, then the chocolate, stirred the two together and gulped down the biggest drink I've ever taken. I sat down my glass and looked down at it, noticing it was more than half empty, reminding me of this summer. I felt a sudden wave of nostalgia, and my heart ached. Kale was leaving in less than a week. It was such a surreal idea; I wasn't ready to accept anything like it.

***

The next morning I awoke with the sun in my eyes. I had already decided that I was going over to Kale's house at ten to hang out all day. I planned to do that every single day until he left. I checked my phone for messages; Faegan had called at three in the morning. I wasn't interested in calling Faegan just yet. I felt really dirty from the day before. I got in the shower and thoroughly cleansed myself, scrubbing literally every part of my body with soap. It felt amazing. I was dressed and ready to head for Kale's at Nine fifty-five. I took the daily stroll down the stairs and went into the kitchen for a Monster. It's been my drink of choice for the past two or three years. I looked in the fridge, moving every bottle and container only to discover that there wasn't any. I closed the door and found a bright yellow sticky note in front of my face. It read 'Went to golf course with Sylvia, see you this evening –Dad'. It only took a moment to process the two of them golfing all day; it was what they usually did on Saturdays. I grabbed my keys off the table next to the door and walked outside. I was surprised my Dad had taken the time to go get my car from the shop yesterday. He didn't even leave the bill next to my keys. I closed the front door and locked it, and heard music blaring from what felt like ten feet away. I turned around to find Faegan and Autumn in my van, Cake playing from my poor old VW speakers. I smiled, happy to see them. They obviously got my car from the shop, and paid the bill. This wasn't the first time they paid a bill for me. I wondered why they paid my bill this time, and what it cost because I knew it definitely wasn't inexpensive to get new brakes and headlights on a 1971 VW hippie van. I walked over to my rusty old van, quite sure that my friends knew all about Kale's trip. I opened the back doors and put my guitar case in.

"So you're off to see Kale, I'm guessing," Autumn said between lip-syncing _"I want a girl with a short skirt and a looooong jacket". _

"Yep, and I'm thinking you're coming along?" I laughed. Cake is amazing, but how they come up with these lyrics I'll never know. "And hello to you too Faegan." He was busy trying to sneak past Autumn to change the song. It wasn't working.

"Hi," Faegan said, giving me that look that said _Get in here and change this music, my ears are bleeding._ I ran around to the driver's side and hopped in. I unplugged Autumn's rip-off of my Ipod, which was a metallic pink thing that was just about filled with all the music it could handle, music that was mostly The Police and Jason Mraz.

Faegan was most pleased, even if he _was_ sitting in the back today. Autumn and Faegan usually argued over who got to ride shotgun, and Autumn usually won.

Once we got to Kale's house, I turned off the engine and stopped my friends from getting out. I needed to know if they knew about Kale leaving.

"So you guys heard about Kale?" I said, still gripping the steering wheel. They both froze and looked at each other, like they needed to confide in each other's decision to tell me what was going on.

"Well, what have you heard about Kale?" Faegan said, his puppy dog eyes glued to mine.

"I have a feeling I know as much as you do," I said.

"Kale told us not to say anything, but seeing as you already know..." Autumn trailed off, her words meaning nothing "Well, I figure we might as well make the time we have left with him count..." she continued to mutter uselessly.

"Autumn it's okay," I said, knowing it really wasn't okay.

"Sorry Rob," Faegan said. We sat in silence; I knew they were thinking about how close Kale and I have been all these years. We looked up as we heard Kale's squeaky screen door open then slam shut.

"Hey y'all," Kale ran up and smiled, happy to see us, "My mom has a lotta business stuff today, and she told me if I was planning to hang out with you guys that we need to head someplace else."

"Alright, well we can always go over to my place," Faegan offered.

"Sounds great, lemme go tell my mom," Kale said taking a quick glance at me, he knew by the way I was looking at him that I was gonna try my hardest to pretend that he wasn't leaving in five days.

Chapter 7:

Faegan lived a good distance away from Kale and I, but not as far as Autumn did, so it wasn't too long of a drive. We all decided to watch _The Breakfast Club _once we got there, it was the only good movie Faegan had. We all arranged ourselves on the couch like we always did whenever we'd watch movies together, Autumn on the end, then Faegan, then me, then Kale. This time it was gonna be different though; Kale and I were dating. We all plopped ourselves down on the couch, and Kale immediately threw his arm around my shoulders. Autumn looked at us, mouth agape.

"Oh. My. God." Faegan didn't look at us right away, Autumn had a tendency to say that combination of words quite often. "When did this happen?" She said, and Faegan finally looked over, wide eyed.

"You know, it's amazing what being stranded does to you." Kale said sarcastically. The two of them had always known we'd end up together. I looked over to Faegan, expecting a response, but he was gone.

"Anybody want a Coke?" I heard him call from the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'll take one," Kale shouted.

"Me too!" said Autumn, and naturally I responded with the age-old _"Me three!" _He returned with the Cokes and we started the movie, saying nothing more of the situation.

***

Time passed, we went through _The Breakfast Club _and _The Even Stevens Movie, _and I have no idea why Faegan had _The Even Stevens Movie-_ but he did, so we watched it. Shia Leboeuf looked weird as a child, but now he's really really hot. I wished Faegan had one of his more recent movies, but he didn't. We were all watching YouTube videos when Kale's phone rang.

"Hey mom," Kale breathed, "...Yeah, we just watched a couple of movies....alright, see you then." He ended the call. "My mom's coming to get me, she wants me to get some more packing done tonight," He said as he looked at me, probably wondering how I would take it if he even mentioned the fact that he was leaving. I figured that Autumn and I would stay a couple more hours before we hit the dusty trail.

The drive home was so lonesome, it was almost unbearable. I wanted so badly for Kale to stay; I was almost serious about kidnapping him. I got home and ran straight upstairs to my room. I wasn't sure if Dad and Sylvia were home, and I didn't really care if they were. I jumped up on my bed and laid out flat on my back. I counted the dots on the ceiling for a while, reaching something like two hundred then lost count. A ping in the distance caught my attention, and I sprang up and looked around. I heard it again, and this time I knew it was coming from my laptop. I went over to my desk and opened it up, my IM displaying two messages from MadHatter26.

"_Hey Rob" _and _"Are you there?" _It's annoying how right when you stop thinking about someone, something comes up and they end up back in your thoughts. I took a second to remember where I got my username from. ElfinEclipse. Kale gave it to me, Elfin because I'm short, Eclipse because I 'blind people with love'.

"_Hey Kale" _I replied, "_What's up?"_

_"Nothing. Just missing you." _I stared back at the screen, wishing he was with me in person, not just text.

I typed "_I miss you too" _then hit enter. Kale took a minute or so to say something else.

"_I love you" _popped up, and my heart almost couldn't take it anymore. I wasn't sure if I could live with myself responding to that. I knew saying I loved Kale back would only make his departure more difficult to deal with. I hesitated for an eternity before Kale said something else.

"_You don't have to say anything."_ He said. I was almost brought to tears at this, I hated this stupid situation. Another ping made me look back up at the screen.

"_Look outside" _My heart jumped as soon as I read this, and I realized that this whole time these messages were coming from a mobile phone. I tried to calm myself down before going over to the window. I looked out, seeing Kale leaning against the mailbox. He has a thing with leaning on mailboxes, one of these days there just isn't gonna be a mailbox for him to lean on. I opened the window and took off the screen, going out on the roof. The roof was warm from the sun, and it reminded me of the sand I tried to sleep in a few days ago. I realized once I was up there that my parents might see Kale if he didn't move from the front of the house.

"Oh crap! Kale, can you climb that fence over there? My parents are gonna see you!" I sounded like it was gonna be the end of the world if he didn't move from where he was standing.

"Yeah, sure. Hang on." He cautiously walked around my van and my Dad's little sedan and jumped up on the chain link fence, disturbing the dogs next door. The barking scared me, and I jumped a little. He carefully reached for the roof from the top of the fence and climbed up to my level.

"Hey," He said as he sat down next to me, the atmosphere clinging with the scent of his Axe cologne.

"Hi," I said quietly. He kissed me on the cheek. I was still thinking about the message he sent, saying he loved me. It was all I could think about. "I thought you had packing to do."

"I finished 'bout twenty minutes ago." He said as he wrapped his muscly arm around my shoulders, "I really wanted to see you." We sat in silence for a minute, then he looked into my eyes. I couldn't look away from him, his green eyes definitely had a hold on mine.

"I meant what I said in that message," he said, "I really do love you." This was killing me, I finally turned myself away. I felt tears come to my eyes.

"Don't turn away from me Robin," He said, "I can't stand it." I looked back at him, the welling tears finally bursting out of my eyes.

"Well then what am I supposed to do?" I sobbed, "I can't live knowing no matter how much you love me you're leaving anyway!" I knew I was being melodramatic, but I just couldn't help it at this point.

"Robin," He said, "Do you love me?" As if he didn't know the answer. I've always loved him.

"Don't make me answer that Kale," I hid my face, "I just can't."

"What...you can't love me?" He said. He didn't understand at all.

"No, you don't get it," I said, "I love you more than anything, but I'm not about to tell you because it would be all for nothing!"

"It's never all for nothing," He said. He was just as melodramatic about this as I was.

"What's the point in loving when I know it's never gonna work?" I said.

"It's like they say," Kale said, "It's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all." Not only was he melodramatic, but he was also quite cliche.

"How is that supposed to make me feel better?" I said, getting angry with him.

"Well," Kale said as he paused to think, "It's not like I had a choice when I fell for you." He replied, the circles under his eyes obviously expressing his bitter remorse for ever having loved me in the first place. I wanted so badly to tell him I loved him without ending up filled with disappointment, writhing in pain for months after he left. However, I was probably gonna end up writhing in pain without him anyway. What did I have to lose?

"Kale," I said, building up drama with every second I didn't say something, "I do love you." My heart wasn't reacting like I thought it would. I thought for sure I'd be hyperventilating or crying even harder, but I wasn't. Kale and I just looked at each other at this, caressing each other with our eyes. He didn't say anything, and he didn't need to; his eyes told me everything I needed to know. Even if Kale was leaving in four days, I knew we'd always feel this unexplainable love for each other that left me both writhing in pain and always wanting more. It's like they say, It's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.

Chapter 8:

One more day. This was all Kale and I had left of our short but sweet relationship. But at least it wasn't all we had left of our friendship. Kale said he was coming over to my house, so I cleaned myself up and straightened my room- or at least I put all the crap on my floor in the closet. I was just finishing cleaning up when my dad walked in.

"Hey Rob," he said, pausing to take a look at what I was doing but not really caring, "what are your plans for today?" I wasn't sure if he really wanted to know what I was doing or if this was a trap.

"Kale's coming over," I said honestly, "He's moving tomorrow you know." I said. I wasn't actually sure if I had told him or not.

"Kale's moving?" He said in a very astonished tone of voice, "Where?"

"California," I said, choking on the four-syllable word.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry," He said. Was he really sorry? I just couldn't tell at this point. I didn't say anything else, because I knew if I did I'd only end up crying, breaking down the wall of maturity I had successfully built up with my dad. He had nothing else to say, and there wasn't anything else he could have said. I'm glad he had nothing else to say. He left my doorway and only seconds later did the wicked witch of the west stomp in.

"You are not allowed to be alone with that boy today," She said in a huff, "You know that." ...Right as I think things cannot possibly get worse. She seriously can't help but burst my bubble every time.

"I'm not gonna be, you and Dad will be here." I said. Dad stuck his head back in the doorway to safely join in the conversation.

"Actually Rob, Sylvia and I are off to a golf tournament," He smiled and then pulled his head out of sight again.

"Well sorry to tell you, but there is no way in hell that I'm missing out on spending time with Kale today." She just couldn't win this time.

"You're welcome to join us at the tournament today," she smiled her evil smile of dishonorable authority.

"Well thanks, but even if I wasn't hanging out with Kale today I'd never spend a day with you anywhere, especially on a golf course. Oh, and I'm still hanging out with Kale today regardless of your stupid rules." Sylvia quickly grew red in the face.

"You are GOING to the golf tournament, and you are NOT allowed to speak with Kale for a month!" Well that was boring.

"Uh, no. Sorry." I ignored her. I just had to keep my cool. Dad walked into the room.

"I am sick and tired of you two fighting all the time! We WILL have order in this house! You listen to me young lady, you obey orders you are given whether I give them or Sylvia does! However," he said as he turned to Sylvia, "I really think it's okay for Robin and Kale to hang out together today. He's moving tomorrow and they have been very close all their lives. It wouldn't be fair to Robin to make her join us at the tournament today." Sylvia wasn't going to stop there.

"Honey, think of all the trouble they can get into!" She said, "For heaven's sake, leaving the two of them alone here can only lead to terrible things!"

"Like what?" He said.

"Sex, drugs, alcohol," Sylvia said. She was prepared to say something even worse, but held her tongue.

"You really think she's into that? I know Robin, she has no desire whatsoever to partake in any inappropriate activities involving drugs or alcohol, and Kale and Robin are only friends. Nothing more." He stopped and took a breath. He had everything but the last part right. It was surprising that my Dad stood up for me like this. I wasn't prepared to tell him Kale and I were more than friends, and I didn't because it would only make things more difficult. With all this conversation going on, we barely noticed Kale walking up the stairs.

"Is everything okay in here?" He asked, his big eyes glowing.

"How did you get in here, who are you?" Sylvia screeched.

"This is Kale," my Dad introduced him to Sylvia.

"Uh, nice to meet you... the door was wide open, so I thought..." Kale was of course rudely cut off.

"So you thought you could just waltz right into our home? Huh? Is that what you thought?" Sylvia stared straight at him in the most demeaning way.

"No Kale it's alright," my Dad said, "Kale's practically family here, Sylvia."

"Um, thanks Mr. Ross." Kale said, his eyes wide with astonishment. Now he knew what I had to deal with on a daily basis. He blankly looked at me, wondering what to do next.

"Alright, well you two have fun today. See you tonight Rob," Dad said as he picked up his golf clubs and motioned for Sylvia to head down the stairs with him. Sylvia turned to look right at me, pursing her lips into a fine line and staring into my soul, trying her best to tear it apart with her eyes. The four of us awkwardly stood for a moment before Sylvia budged from her spot and we all moved from where we were standing. It was like she had the power to make time stop and go. Kale practically fled to my room and as soon as he entered I closed the door.

"Well isn't she lovely?" Kale said, grasping a pillow in pure horror.

"Yeah, lucky you you're leaving tomorrow. You never have to see her again," I said, wishing I could go with him. "Can you believe my dad stood up for me today?" I said, changing the subject before I got caught up in depression.

"Yeah, I noticed that when I walked in. Weird." He said.

"No, I mean he talked _back _to Sylvia! He's usually on her side!"

"Yeah, I wonder what made him do that," Kale said, no longer grasping onto my pillow for dear life. He sat up.

"I have no idea," I said realizing it really wasn't my biggest issue to figure this out right then. I looked him over. I noticed he had five o'clock shadow and circles under his eyes. "Didn't get much sleep last night?" I asked.

"Nah. I couldn't fall asleep, too busy thinking." He said as he rubbed his eyes. It was obvious what he stayed up thinking about. He was thinking about us, about me. He was thinking about how painful this trip was going to be for me, and how I knew it was the same for him. This wasn't going to be easy, things were going to be in shambles for a long time after he left. I tried to have a good attitude about things, but it was just as hard as accepting his departure. He was looking at me.

"What're you thinking about?" He asked.

"You know what I'm thinking about," I said as I looked back at him sheepishly. Kale was the only person I ever looked to for comfort, but it was difficult when I needed comfort from something he caused. I didn't know what the proper way to react was in this situation, and neither did he. We just looked at each other, like the night on my roof, knowing everything but the solution to our problems. He took my face in his hands, looking at me with even more concentration. It was as if he was trying to find the answers in me, in my eyes. He gave up, his search useless. He leaned in, placing his forehead against mine. I could hear the acceleration of our uneven breathing, the febricity warming the space between us. He pulled away, but still kept his eyes on mine.

"I brought something for you," He said as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a locket on a gold chain.

"Oh Kale, it's beautiful," I said. I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Just like you," He said, his crooked smile filling the cracks of my heart. He placed it in my hand and wrapped my fingers around it. I looked it over, then opened it. Inside was a picture of two little kids smiling and holding hands. A boy and a girl.

"I looked through my box of pictures from when we were kids, and I found this one. It was small enough to put in the locket you gave me when I was five... It was also in the box." I didn't recognize the locket. It was surprising that I even had one when I was five, I was such a tomboy those days...and I haven't really changed. I unhooked the clasp on the back of the necklace and reconnected the ends around my neck. It was a pretty short chain, seeing how it was made for a child, but I didn't care. Kale looked at it, then his eyes trailed back up to mine.

"I wish I had something to give you," I said. It was stupid that I didn't get him a going away present.

"You gave me everything I've ever wanted, Robin. There's probably nothing more you could ever dream of gi-" I cut him off with a kiss, "Except that." He kissed me again.

***

Before we knew it, it was evening. The sun was starting to slowly droop to the other side of the earth, and Dad and Sylvia would be home soon. I knew Kale had to leave soon, but I wasn't ready to let him go. I never would be. I wanted to cry my heart out, right in front of him again, but I knew he couldn't take it. He couldn't do anything to save us, to make things better. So instead of releasing the explosive cathartic feelings we had, we both just sat in silence, trying our best to accept our aftermath. It was better to spend our last hours together happy anyways.

"You know, I have to go," Kale whispered, playing with my hands.

"No, you can't," I whispered back.

"I have to," He said, his sparkling eyes looked back at mine with despondency. I would have to try my best to remember these sparkling green eyes and their intensity once he was gone.

"Just five more minutes," I said.

"We're always going to want just five more minutes," He said, his expression unchanged. He was right, I never wanted this to end. I knew something had to change this, some extraordinary miracle had to occur in order for this to be a happy ending...but I knew I wasn't one who counted on getting a happy ending. I guess I didn't want to lose Kale because he was the only chance I had, which I admit is kind of selfish. I had to let him go.

"Okay," I said as I took a deep, undoubtedly dramatic breath. We both got off the bed and sluggishly walked down the stairs. He opened the door for me, which I found that it should have been the other way around, and I drove him home.

Chapter 9:

I spent the next two weeks at home, no matter how much Autumn and Faegan tried to get me out of my house. I made myself pick up my guitar no matter how much it reminded me of Kale. It had only been two weeks, but I was okay with his absence. I tried to remember the song Kale wrote for me, and tried to think of the chords, but it was too hard. At least I had the lyrics and the tune to remember. He hadn't called me yet, I knew he had made his destination a couple days before, and it bothered me. One day when I was playing Trains by Porcupine Tree, Faegan called.

"Hey Rob, d'ya mind if I come over? I've been missing you...We haven't hung out in ages, and you're obviously not coming out of your house..." He was sort of rambling.

"Sure, I'm home alone anyway," I stuck the pick between the strings of my guitar and placed it back on its stand.

"Great, see you in a bit." He hung up, quite abruptly. Oh well. I scooped up the clothes off my floor and shoved them in my closet like I always do, then brushed my teeth. He arrived about twenty minutes later, and I opened the door to a guy with long brown hair and a T shirt from a metal band I had never heard of. We went up to my room and laid on my bed, talking about Kale and how I felt. How he felt, how Autumn felt. All our feelings poured out like hot syrup on pancakes, and it felt good. I didn't cry, but I conversed with Faegan more than I had ever talked in my whole life. Once we stopped talking about Kale, we started talking about our past, about good times. Before we knew it, it was seven o'clock, and Dad and Sylvia were home from golfing all day. I realized I hadn't asked if Faegan could visit, and Sylvia would throw a fit if she found out Faegan had come over.

"Oh god," I was like a deer in headlights.

"What? It's just Your Dad and his girlfriend, what's wrong?" He stood up to go open the door, but I shot up and stopped him.

"If they find out you came over today, I'll be grounded for all of eternity," I whispered, "And keep it down, I gotta get you out of here." I immediately thought of him exiting out the window, but I didn't have any time to get him out without being seen, Dad was coming up the stairs to say Hi.

"Crap...Um, get in the closet!" I shoved him to the other side of the room and closed the closet doors just in time.

"Hey Rob," Dad chimed as he opened the door. He was definitely happy today.

"Uh, hey," I said, my heart pounding like a mallet on a hunk of beef.

"Have a good day honey?" He asked. I actually saw him smile for the first time in a year.

"Yeah, I played guitar pretty much all day," I hate lying to my dad.

"Alright, well Sylvia and I are off to see a movie, we'll be home at about ten thirty. Gotta drive out to the city you know," He said. There was obviously something he was hiding from me, but I wasn't about to make Faegan stay in the closet long enough for him to tell me what it was.

"Okay, see you later Dad." I gave him the look that said '_can you go now?' _I hoped I hadn't made it look like I was also hiding something from him.

"Bye," He closed the door. I waited until I heard two pairs of feet had gone down the stairs before I let Faegan out.

"Why did you have to hide me in the closet again?" Faegan asked.

"Right...You don't know much do you?" I looked at him. It was weird how Faegan didn't know much about me. "My Dad's girlfriend doesn't really like me to have people over before she meets them." I kept it light so I wouldn't overwhelm him with information. "Oh, okay," He went back and jumped up on my bed. There was a lot of things I needed to tell Faegan in order for us to be better friends, but I was never sure when would be the right time. He was always just my bandmate, my biology buddy. But something made me want to know more about him, and for him to know more about me. It was time be became better friends.

"So what else don't I know about you and your family?" He asked. It was shockingly coincidental for him to ask. This was weird, but I was about to tell him everything about me and my life, from beginning to end.

Chapter 10:


End file.
